The present distribution system for perishable foodstuffs, such as fruit, delivers almost ripe fruit for retail sale. A particular example of the fruit delivery system is the one for bananas. The time to ripeness of a banana is closely related to the environmental temperature. The temperature is regulated so that the bananas reach the proper state at each step of the distribution process. When the bananas reach the fruit retailer, they are ready to be exposed to the ambient temperature and are promptly sold. When the ambient temperature is in the comfortable range of 75 degrees F., the bananas are now ready to be eaten and become overripe in three or four days. Time and temperature are closely related in the maturity of bananas.
Other fresh fruits are also sold just before time and temperature have brought them to full ripeness. Sometimes several days at ambient temperatures are necessary to bring these other fruits, such as pitted fruits, to optimum temperature for eating. When such fruits have reached their optimum ripeness, they must also be refrigerated below room temperature in order to limit the speed of further ripening. Thus, there is need for a refrigerator which maintains fruit at a temperature below room ambient so that further ripening of the fruit is reduced by lower temperature.
A prior structure configured to store and ripen table fruit is configured to blowing air from a cooler section into the food holding section. This type of system results in more space being dedicated to the equipment and less space being available for fruit holding, than in a comparable sized structure using cold plate technology. In such a structure, the air holes from the cooler section to the fruit holding section may be covered by the fruit, thus reducing air flow and cooling capacity. This disadvantage is overcome by cooling the plate on which the fruit rests rather than bringing in cool air from the cooling device. In addition, in order to provide substantial uniformity of the air temperature in the environment in which the fruit is stored, it is desirable to circulate air around the fruit, with the circulating air being cooled by the cold plate.